The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The invention firstly relates to a valve for dispensing a liquid, comprising a housing, an internal liquid passage extending through the housing between an inlet and an outlet, a valve seat, a valve member which is movable between a closed position engaging the valve seat for closing the liquid passage and an open position disengaging the valve seat for opening the liquid passage, and control controlling the movement of the valve member between its closed and open positions.
A valve of this type may be useful in combination with a beverage dispenser in which beverages that are contained and sold in bag-in-box packagings (BIB) are used (but it is not limited to such an application). This type of packaging is well known on the market and is used for many kinds of beverages like wine, fruit juice, water, spirits and others. Beverages stored in BIB have in common that they are non-carbonised because the packaging cannot be used under pressure. For wine this means that only ‘still’ wines can be stored. Another characteristic of wine stored in BIB packaging is that the packaging cannot be used for aging the wine to improve its quality, like in glass bottles. A typical wine stored in BIB packaging is in most cases a relative young wine.
It is a known that young wines contain more acids (like sulphite), ethanol and tannins. Letting wine ‘breath’ is one way to get rid of some of the sharp edges that come with these ingredients. A known technique for letting wine breath is decanting in a decanter or in a glass, or by aeration, which involves bringing wine into contact with air by mixing wine with little air bubbles during the pouring process. Aeration triggers evaporation and oxidation of the above mentioned components, which results in subtle but noticeable softening of the taste and an enhancement of the aromas. Aeration also may increase the oxygen saturation in liquids.
Aeration can also be beneficial for other beverages. Water, for instance, can contain gasses like hydrogen sulphur, chlorine, methane or carbon dioxide. Aeration promotes the release of these gasses and improves the taste and overall quality.
Thus, in general aeration improves the overall quality of the beverages. However, in certain cases aeration to the contrary causes a reduction of the more appreciated bouquet of wine or loss of subtle flavour characteristics.
The state of the art already shows aerators that can be used to aerate wine or other liquids. Some can be placed on a bottle and aerate during pouring out, whereas others are placed above a glass and aerate when wine is poured into the aerator that releases aerated wine in the glass. Examples of both types are disclosed in AU-A-2013204096, CN-Y-201372191, GB2473744, CN-U-202346740, CN-U-201958676 and CN-U-202269919. These aerators all use the Venturi principle for mixing fluid with air. This is a proven concept that works very well with low pressure and flow of the fluid and air.
However, none of the state of the art aerators allows a user to make a choice between dispensing with or dispensing without aeration.